modulation

Today’s tune is the theme from 2012 movie Avengers Assemble / The Avengers. The soundtrack for this film was written by renowned soundtrack composer Alan Silvestri whose work for countless films has been recognised for decades. This piece was chosen by my son who celebrates his 11th birthday today.

This lovely song featured in the 1968 San Remo festival performed by Anna Identici. Quando M’Innamoro (“When I fall in love”) was then recorded in English as A Man Without Love by Engelbert Humperdinck, in Spanish as Cuando Me Enamoro, in Japanese as 愛の花咲くとき (Ai no hana saku toki), and in Swedish as Före Min Tid.

Today’s song was originally recorded by The Platters in 1957. Desperate to come up with a follow-up to the very successful Only You, Buck Ram, the band’s producer, says he wrote The Great Pretender in 20 minutes in the toilet of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. The reason I chose this song today is that it was later recorded famously by Freddie Mercury in 1987. Freddie Mercury would be celebrating his 69th birthday today.

Today’s song is Andrea Bocelli’s Mille Lune Mille Onde (“A thousand moons, a thousand waves”) from his 2001 album Cieli di Toscana (“Tuscan skies”). It was written by Francesco Sartori, Claudio Corradini and Lucio Quarantotto, the same writing team behind the beautiful Con Te Partirò. I had never heard this song until last week when my mum mentioned it! Curiously it is the official song of all the Barilla pasta TV adverts – conjuring up images of moon-shaped pasta and wavy tagliatelle…

Today’s song is ABBA’s Kisses of Fire, the B-Side to the 1979 single Does Your Mother Know. It has one of the best modulations of all ABBA songs in my opinion! When I taught at Mearns Castle we did a version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream combined with ABBA songs and this song featured, complete with that all-important modulation!

Today I’m playing Stevie Wonder’s Happy Birthday for my son who turns 14 today. I had no idea about the origins of this song until I did my usual research before posting the song. Stevie Wonder was one of the main figures to campaign for the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. to become a national holiday in the US and he wrote and released this song in 1981 to help promote the cause. Ronald Reagan approved the national holiday in 1983 and the first Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was held on 20 January 1986. The day was marked with a concert where Stevie Wonder performed the song in celebration. There’s more information in this video and to see the amazing, all-star performance from the concert, watch this video from 5:02.

Today’s song is Angel of Music, a lovely piece from the musical The Phantom of the Opera and this was a special request from one of our young stars of the forthcoming High Five Spanish series with whom I’m working this week. ¡Espero que te guste, ‘Marina’!

Today’s song is the duet between Julio Iglesias and Stevie Wonder, My Love, dating from 1988. The two sing in harmony on the chorus and there’s something about Stevie Wonder’s voice and Julio Iglesias accent which is quite special. The video features footage of Julio Iglesias in China from 1988 where he became the first international artist to have a live television special with an audience of 400 million viewers.

Today’s song is Barry Manilow’s Mandy, dating from 1974. This song was actually previously recorded as Brandy by Scott English in 1971, but it didn’t really find fame until Manilow’s recording. Since then it has been covered by Johnny Mathis, by Kai Hyttenen in Finnish (as “Leena“), by Karel Gott in Czech (as “Jsou svátky“) and by Westlife in 2005.

This will rank among the less well-known of my 365 Songs collection! Så Glad Som Dina Ögon (“as happy as your eyes”) is a pre-ABBA song from 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog. Here’s a version of the original if you’re interested. I hope you enjoy something a bit different today.